Super Satono Alladdin
3-year old wins Bonecrusher Stakes.

The iconic Karaka Million 3YO race is part of one of the best race days on the New Zealand calendar and Kingmakers Leighton Howl specifically selected Lupo Solitario with that race in mind, with the ultimate aim of selling him to Hong Kong as a potential Hong Kong Derby horse.

Kingmakers Founder Leighton Howl was adamant that the Japanese sire Satano Aladdin had the ability to leave something special and once at Karaka narrowed his choice down to two colts in the Book 2 sale, finally settling on a brown showy individual out of the Pentire mare She’s Aloof. 

A plan was developed to race the horse as a spring three-year-old and to win a couple of races, some black type for potential saleability to Hong Kong, on the way to the Karaka Million 3YO.

At a cost of $82,500 a syndicate of ten like-minded people was put together including Greg Mason who took 20%. He was introduced to Howl by a friend of a friend. Howl indicated he had a horse for syndication, Mason had raced horses in syndicates before, but the thought of a smaller syndicate had more appeal and that’s where the journey began.

“Leighton presented us with a spreadsheet with a plan for the horse and what the costs would be,” Mason recalled.

“We thought it would be a bit of fun getting together with the lads, Leighton had a really clear plan from the get-go, in that we are going to build his entire program to lead to the Karaka 3YO million race - including not going south for the Guineas”

“We didn’t like the lease model as it didn’t feel like you had any skin in the game compared to ownership. Ownership especially with Leighton felt like a better model with a plan that has an upside and a good possible exit model.”

Howl placed Lupo Solitario with Matamata trainer Danica Guy, who soon discovered the horse’s unique nuances and traits inherited from sire Satono Aladdin. One being the need to be lightly trained and their races spaced out to get the best out of them on race day

All went to plan as January arrived with Lupo Solitario having won three races including the Gr.2 Bonecrusher Stakes and accumulated enough stake money to compete in the Karaka Million 3YO.

Mason recalled that it was the ultimate plan to get to that race, everything was about how to get to the big dance, and it was tracking well.

“We all got very invested in seeing our horse get mentioned in all the media and the punting chat leading up to the race,” he said.

“Leighton ran a live WhatsApp group for the owners and we all went on that talking banter about who made money on what especially on the way through.”

However, the best laid plans don’t always come to fruition and the track on Karaka Million night presented as quite shifty. Leading jockey Ryan Elliot who had ridden the horse from the get-go tabled his concerns with the trainer, and it was agreed to ride him where he was happy. Struggling to get his toe in the slippery surface, Ryan rode the perfect race, dead cold and hitting the line as he wanted to protect the value of the horse, running 4.8 lengths eighth, behind the Champion filly Orchestral.

“It was disappointing that the track on the night didn’t suit Lupo one bit” mused Mason, “but that’s racing.

“To Leighton and Danica’s credit they leaned on their various contacts in Hong Kong and worked with them to ensure Lupo meet all the criteria for a sale.

“It was a well-managed great journey from where we started to selling the horse for seven figures.

“We all came out with our stake earnings of $176,000 plus a sale and a 10-fold profit on our initial investment. That has enabled us to continue and reinvest in another syndicate with Leighton.”